[Air-L] public/private

[Ed Lamoureux]

Alex,
correct, roughly, on one level.
that is . . . you could probably publish without running afoul of  
"rights of privacy" torts in most states. No guarantee that you'd not  
end up in court challenged over it... but you might well win due to  
the "public" factors you mention.

However, there is a HUGE difference, in my view.
Your photos, and this hypothetical, were not posed as a data  
collection in social science, approved by an IRB, sort of activity.  
In fact, as posed, you weren't doing social scientific research at all.
Were you doing social scientific research and had you selected those  
people as research subjects in your work, your IRB would probably  
have wanted to have a talk with you about the use of  
photography . . . for one of the hallmarks of human subjects  
protection is that the data NOT BE CONNECTED TO THE INDIVIDUAL  
SUBJECT IN A WAY THAT CAN HARM THEM.

You violated that. They had the right to be asked. In public or not.

On Aug 11, 2007, at 2:38 PM, Alex Halavais wrote:

> Similar hypothetical: A group of people engage in a fetish festival on
> a public street. Pretty racy and revealing stuff going on. As a
> researcher, I take pictures and observe the interactions and include
> them in a best seller called "Weird fetishists and the weird fetishes
> they engage in weirdly." Years later, this gets back to the
> participants, and they are tres embarrassed.

Edward Lee Lamoureux, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Multimedia Program
and Department of Communication
Co-Director, New Media Center
1501 W. Bradley
Bradley University
Peoria IL  61625
309-677-2378
<http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/index.html>
<http://gcc.bradley.edu/mm/>
AIM/IM & skype: dredleelam
Second Life: Professor Beliveau